Janet Carter Anand - Global Mindedness in International Social Work Practice

Global Mindedness in International Social Work Practice

Published titles

Anti-Racist Practice in Social Work Kish Bhatti-Sinclair

Spirituality and Social Work Margaret Holloway and Bernard Moss

Social Work Research for Social Justice Beth Humphries

Social Work and Social Policy under Austerity Bill Jordan and Mark Drakeford

Social Care Practice in Context Malcolm Payne

Critical Issues in Social Work with Older People Mo Ray, Miriam Bernard and Judith Phillips

Social Work and Power Roger Smith and Jo Campling

Doing Radical Social Work Colin Turbett

Adult Social Work Law in England John Williams, Gwyneth Roberts and Aled Griffiths

Social Work and Community Development Catherine Forde and Deborah Lynch

Values in Social Work Jane Fenton

Janet Carter Anand and Chaitali Das

Janet Carter Anand and Chaitali Das, under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2019

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Chapter

International Social Work the Vision and the Reality

Introduction

The reality that peoples lives increasingly transcend national boundaries, and that global events shape local lives, has led to the recognition that the scope of social work is international in scale. Social work problems and solutions are no longer located and contained within local or national boundaries. International social work, in this context, has increasingly gained importance in response to developments that go beyond national confines. The concept of international social work and its relevance for human rights has therefore gained currency.

Despite the number of publications and courses on International social work the concept itself remains difficult to define. The confusion relates to the different ideas, approaches and orientations attributed to the term. Midgley (1990) suggested that international social work is a broad umbrella term referring to any aspect of social work involving two or more nations and emphasised the idea of nations working in partnership. Healy (2001) defines international social work as all social work that may require international knowledge. Dominelli (2004a), Ife (2010) and Akimoto (2008), however, highlight the importance of processes and consequences that globalisation has on social work and takes into account the need to consider the dialectical relationship between the local and the global. In this book, we also argue that international social work is a way of thinking about social work based on a critical understanding of the interplay between local problems and global issues that pervades practice.

This book acknowledges the importance of a global approach to the profession and attempts to develop this further by presenting global mindedness as an approach for transformative practice. The notion of global mindedness in social work refers to the recognition and building upon the relationship between global and local contexts in day-to-day practice. The nature of this relationship, though acknowledged in academic circles, remains understated in social work education and practice. The relevance of global issues to local practice and the influence of local practice on global issues are not always apparent to students and practitioners.

In the following chapters, we outline our approach to global mindedness, its conceptualisation and operationalisation in practice. This exploration is undertaken by critically deconstructing and reconstructing how social issues are perceived and understood by social workers. We highlight the importance of going beyond ones own context to explore the diversities of human experience around the world, as the basis for transformative practice. Case studies are used extensively in the following chapters to encourage students, academics and practitioners to apply the values, knowledge and skills required for global mindedness to their own practice. We hope the case studies will also serve as useful pedagogical recources for educators that will enable them to bring both human rights and international social work issues into the classroom and foster discussion to unravel the relationship between the global and the local. This book adds a new perspective on international social work that is relevant and applicable to the day-to-day experiences of social work students, educators and practitioners. Since the concept of global mindedness builds on the literature on international social work, this chapter outlines the key debates of international social work. This chapter also highlights issues within globalisation that have a profound impact on international social work.

Defining International Social Work

There are many definitions of international social work. In 2014, the International Federation of Social Workers and the International Association of Social Workers further developed the definition of social work to represent the diverse traditions and cultures inherent in the profession. The following is the current definition internationally accepted by most schools of social work: